Embracing Eternity
by heaven'sgirl
Summary: AC198. While the former pilots are hunted down by an unknown group, Earth and the colonies are about to face another war. Dreams are crushed. Hope is lost. But in the end, there's always love and redemption.
1. Remembering

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SUMMARY: A.C. 198… two years since MarieMaia's army invaded Earth, both the Earth and colonies has now lived peacefully… but, as long as mankind exists, there will always be war and the pursuit of domination. 

COUPLES: 1xR (you probably should know by now), 2xH, 5xS, and MxN

This chapter might be short.

**O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O**

Embracing Eternity  
_Reminiscent_

"Here's your order, miss."

The golden-haired woman returned the smile of the vendor as he carefully handed her a bouquet of pearly white tulips, neatly enclosed with a thin strip of ribbon. With pale, smooth hands, she carried them delicately towards her destination.

The dead leaves of fall crunched softly under her small shoes; stopping in front of a marble headstone, she crouched down to place the flowers before standing again. A soft smile marred her face and she stood, gazing.

"Hello father," she spoke. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to visit the last two weeks. I've been so busy since there were some conflicts in the ESUN. I guess they are having a hard time deciding with some things. What would you have done, father?"

The gentle breeze fluttered her hair and the cotton pink sundress, which did nothing do disguise her slender body, she was wearing. Her head shone under the blazing sun and made her skin paler.

"I wish you were still here…" her voice hitched in her throat as she struggled not to cry. But as much as she tried, she knelt down on the grass covered earth as the first tears streaked down her cheeks.

A few moments passed, Relena Darlian gained her composure and stood up with shaky legs. With a weak smile, she walked away without looking back.

**O O O O O O **

"Ah… are you all right, Miss Relena?" the fancy voice of Dorothy Catalonia snapped the young woman out of her thoughts.

She shifted uncomfortably on her seat and stared at the smiling face of her friend in the vid com. Both have been living in a world of politics; she the Vice Foreign Minister, and Dorothy, the ESUN's Chief of Defense, which, in Relena's opinion, suited Dorothy well.

Tiredly, she replied with a simple "yes". Dorothy quirked an eyebrow. "You don't seem like you are. Silly me, my question simply did not go well with the expression on your face, Miss Relena. The most suited question is: What is bothering you?"

Relena placed her chin on her folded hands and sighed exasperatedly. Dorothy can always read her whenever something was bothering her. She mumbled something under her breath.

"I'm afraid I didn't catch that," Dorothy said.

Relena looked away from the vid com, instead settling her gaze outside the window across her desk, overlooking the busy streets of the city. "Dorothy, do you think I'm really fit to be Vice Foreign Minister?"

Dorothy was taken aback; her eyes widened at Relena's confession. "Miss Relena, that's absurd! You are the perfect person to be in that position. Don't you see? The people of Earth _and_ the colonies look up to you." She noticed the far away look in Relena's cerulean orbs, and gave the young Vice Foreign Minister a sympathetic look.

"Just think about it, Miss Relena." Dorothy ended the call and Relena faced a blank screen.

She closed her eyes, trying to erase the immature questioned she had just inquired. Dorothy was right. Earth and the space colonies were living in peace because of her… well, her and the ESUN. But it was still she that pushed peace to settle for both sides.

Relena shook her head. All right, probably she's becoming paranoid for thinking such things. She needed something to do to remove the question out of her brain. Mind set, she grabbed her jacket and keys, and dashed out of her office.

**O O O O O O **

He must not stop now. He will not give up… inhaling a good amount of air, he increased his pace; the cold, afternoon air freezing his cheeks and ears. The men pursuing him were a good yards away.

He smirked. Years of training had given him strength that no average person has. Turning his head to get a good look at his pursuers, the smirk left his face as one of them pulled out a gun and directly aimed it at him.

Cursing, he ran in a zigzag pattern… in that way, the guy trying to shoot him will have a hard time with his target. As he turned in another direction, he immediately saw a white convertible parked near and noticed someone sitting in the driver's seat.

He weighed the option; it's either take the unsuspecting driver in trouble with him, or get caught and tortured unless they – the pursuers, whoever they are – get answers they wanted.

_The former would be better,_ he thought, annoyed. He did not want to involve any civilians, but the possibility that the pursuers finding out about _them_ are much worse.

He leapt in the back seat just as the car's engine started.

**O O O O O O O**

Relena stiffened on her seat as she felt a presence behind. Just a few minutes ago, she was just buying some coffee from a small store. But as soon as she went in her car and started the engine, she wasn't expecting someone jumping into her vehicle.

She avoided looking at the rear view mirror, afraid to see whoever wanted to harm her.

"You must know," she said, trying to hide the fear in her voice, "I – I have a pepper spray near me, and I will use it on you."

"Try me."

Relena's breathing seemed to stop. The voice, it was familiar… for the first time after the unexpected incident, Relena looked in the rear view mirror and was met with the coldest Prussian orbs ever.

**O O O O O O O**

There you have it! The first chapter of my new story!

And I also decided to put random trivia that I've read after each chapter. Just thought that you might be interested in some of them. Heh, and these trivia are not connected with my story.

TRIVIA:

It snowed in the Sahara desert on February 18, 1979.

**REVIEWS PLEASE!**

PS: Contego will be posted soon, and Forever's Not Enough will be updated soon, too!

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	2. Targets

The 2nd chapter… and everyone's like: "Took you long enough!" Lol. Sorry.

DISCLAIMER: Don't own them… mmkay?

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Targets

"This is Preventer Water," a woman with golden locks said through her transmitter, "Can you hear me?" Her blue eyes flared in anxiousness and beads of sweat trickled down her forehead as she pressed a button.

_This connection isn't working very well,_ she thought. Just then, one of the buttons flashed red, and she hurriedly pushed it; the sight of her friend calmed her tense muscles.

Sally heaved a deep sigh. "I thought no one heard my distress call."

Lucrezia Noin nodded. She adjusted the mike on her headset and looked restlessly at Sally. "What happened, Sally? What's wrong?" she asked. Sally wiped the perspiration forming on her forehead with a handkerchief.

"I'm near the L1 Colony," Sally stated, "I was going do drop of a message there, but I just noticed this star, or whatever it was, just near by. I don't know what it is, but I have a bad feeling about this. I remembered once, when we just started working for the Preventers, this man hid a massive amount of weaponry inside an unmoving meteor.

My intuition is telling what I've found is similar," she took a deep breath, "But I feel like this is worse."

Noin nodded in understanding. It was not unusual to find a distant star or a cluster near the colonies these days, and yet it seemed that Sally was bothered about it. At the other end of the line, she heard a loud shake, at the same time Sally turned her head around, gazing at her shuttle's door. As the shaking noise grew louder and louder, Sally was beginning to get alarmed; meanwhile, Noin was confused with the racket.

"What's with the noise?" she asked, worried. But it was hard to make out what her comrade was saying; the noise seemed to increase, and their connection was receiving heavy static.

Sally grabbed onto her seat as the shaking amplified. Her reply was broken into different words. "Someone… breaking… noise…" The screen began to blur and Sally's voice grew fainter.

"Get help, Noin," were Sally's last words to her before she turned around. The last thing that Noin saw was Sally grabbing her pistol before the connection was completely cut off.

"Sally…!"

**0 0 0 0 0**

_Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,_ were the only words that entered Relena's mind as she continued driving. She stole a glance through her rear view mirror and again saw the same Prussian orbs that she saw a few minutes ago. There was no mistaking it; the voice, the eyes. It was definitely him.

Relena gulped nervously and shifted uncomfortably on her seat. Her grip on the steering wheel tightened and her knuckles turned white. It was an exact year since she saw this man, yet her heart still beat wildly at the mere thought of him. She thought of what to say, but instead reflected if he even knew _she_ was driving the car.

Summoning up her courage, or what was left of it, she spoke nervously, "I guess you didn't know it was me, huh, Heero?"

There was a grunt then a curse.

"Relena?" his tone was of surprise and alarm. Relena parked her car outside a store and turned around. His face showed that of surprise Relena has never seen before.

She smiled. "All my life, I never expected someone, let alone _you_… jump into my car… on a busy day like this." Heero grunted again and looked behind him. Relena followed his gaze.

"You're looking for someone?" she asked. Suddenly, Heero carried her light form and placed her gently on the passenger's seat while he took the driver's seat.

"What do you think you're _doing?_"

"Driving," was his simple reply as he turned the car right. Relena, shocked by his action, didn't pursue her question. Happy as she was to see Heero again, there was one question that plagued her mind: What was he doing here all of a sudden?

**0**

Heero, for his part, was surprised to see Relena. Out of all cars in the world, it turned out to be hers. He never intended her to be part of his mission, but seeing that she was the only one currently available for help – yes, _help,_ - this was his only choice for the moment.

He noticed her uneasiness. _Should I tell her? _He pondered for the answer. But he knew too well that one way or another, she would definitely find out soon… she was the Vice Foreign Minister after all.

"Where are we going?" she asked quietly. Heero made a quick glance at her, the nodded.

"Your place."

"Oh…" she said. Then it dawned on her. _Her _place! She couldn't help the faint blush on her cheeks. This was definitely making her confused.

**0 0 0 0 0**

Back to the place where Heero was pursued, the man that tried to shoot him checked his gun and realized that his ammo were gone. Hissing in anger, he took out his radio.

"Boss, the pilot 01 escaped... but I have a good guess where he's headed… Good guess, boss… He jumped inside the Vice Foreign Minister's car."

**0 0 0 0 0**

"Heero, what exactly is wrong? You're making me confused!" Relena said in a frustrated tone. Heero stared at her and led her in the elevator. Once the doors were closed, Heero crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

"There's something important I need to tell you… but not here."

Whatever it is, Heero's tone meant it was serious business; and Relena didn't further question him until they reached her suite. Searching her purse for the keys, she stole a glance at Heero, who was leaning on the wall opposite the door, his eyes scanning the hall for anyone. She smiled thoughtfully and opened the door.

"Well, here's my place," she said. Closing and locking the door behind him, he turned to face Relena, his face set and serious. Relena bit her bottom lip as she shifted her weight from foot to foot.

"Well, first, I'll make some coffee. Then tell me what the problem is… is that all right with you?" she asked, ushering Heero to take a seat.

"Hn," he answered and gave her a nod before crossing his arms again. Relena grinned and headed to her small kitchen. While going about her task, Relena timidly pondered the current situation. Here she was, making coffee for a young man she had never talked or seen for more than a year. Part of her felt it was ridiculous to even let him enter her place, for she lived alone, and letting a guy in her place just seemed… well, _wrong_ - for her standards anyway. Right?

As she waited for the coffee to be done, she walked quietly to the living room and saw Heero closing the blinds of her windows and double checking that the door was locked. She raised an eyebrow and watched as Heero took his previous seat and closed his eyes, seemingly deep in thought. Now she was really eager to hear what he was to say.

Pouring the coffee into two mugs and placing them on a tray, with a small plate of brownies, she placed them on her coffee table and sat across Heero, who opened his eyes and looked at her intently. Relena smiled uncomfortably and sipped her coffee slowly.

"I bet you're wondering how in the world I turned up in your car," Heero started, "I was being pursued." Relena gasped softly.

"But why?"

"Because those men want to use me with their new…" he searched for a word, "weapon."

Relena gasped in surprise again. "Weapon? Heero, what's going on?"

Heero sighed and closed his eyes. "There's going to be another war, Relena."

**0 0 0 0 0**

Wufei Chang punched the wall for the seventh time; his eyes were full of fury and rage. Noin, worried for her comrade, approached and tried to calm him before he inflict a worse injury to his already bleeding fist.

Wufei turned to his commanding officer. "What the hell happened? Didn't she have anyone with her!"

"Wufei, you _must_ calm down. You will have a hard time concentrating if you can't control your anger. We are trying to track Sally's shuttle," Colonel Une, Chief of the Preventers, said firmly. She stood up and walked to Wufei. Placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, she smiled at him reassuringly.

"We will find her… you can count on that."

**0 0 0 0 0**

Relena, still feeling light headed about the information from Heero, unconsciously arranged the pillows on her couch for Heero to sleep on. She placed a blanket on the coffee table and waited for Heero to emerge from her bathroom.

Her mind seemed to be in a whirl of questions. Why wasn't anyone in the Preventers aware of this? Why do they need Heero badly with their 'weapon'? What _is_ that weapon? Who would they use it against – Earth or the colonies? And the most important question: who could have done this?

Her thoughts were interrupted as Heero exited her bathroom inaudibly; standing up, she smiled at Heero.

"You can sleep here tonight. Then tomorrow, we can go to the Preventers," she covered her mouth as she yawned, "Uhm, Heero, are you just going to sleep with your shirt and jeans?"

"Hn. Yes."

Relena nodded meekly. "I see. Well, good night."

"Hn."

**0**

Relena thought that she must have fallen asleep quickly after attending to Heero, because next thing she knew, someone was waking her up. Reaching for the lamp, a strong hand stopped her.

"Heero?" she asked sleepily. She sat up on her bed and saw Heero's tall figure beside her bed.

"Relena, you're going to have to hide in your closet for a while," Heero answered, his voice alarmed. Relena put on a robe over her nightgown and tugged at Heero's shirt.

"What's happening?"

Heero opened her closet for her. "Just in stay here and don't make any noise. Do not go out unless I said so." He pushed her gently inside the closet just as a loud crash reverberated outside her room.

"Relena, I'll have to break my promise," his tone was cold, but Relena heard the regret in them. Heero left the room without another word.

"Promise?" she whispered to herself. Then it hit her.

"_I won't kill anymore…"_

Remembering his words brought tears in her eyes; his simple phrase showed her of Heero's inner torments, his suffering, and it had pained her to see him like that, yet this new knowledge of him seemed to bring her closer to Heero.

Relena jumped when she heard another loud noise from outside the room, followed by gunshots. Now she felt terrified and worried for Heero. What if he was outnumbered? What if…?

"No, Heero's going to be fine…" she whispered, trying to reassure herself. There was another loud thump that made her jump and accidentally bumped her head at the back of the board. As she massaged her head, she heard the door of her room open, and in came a man that she has never seen before.

"Come out, come out, princess…" the man howled in laughter. Relena, as silently as possible, looked for any object that she can use as a weapon and found her old golf club.

Praying silently to God for what she was about to do, the closet door abruptly opened. Relena hastily swung the club into the man's shoulder, making him off balance. Thinking this was her chance, she jumped over the man's body to escape, but then felt her body crash onto the carpeted floor. The man had grabbed her ankle and had aimed a gun at her head with an ugly grin on his face.

Out of nowhere, a deep voice spoke:

"Get your filthy hands off of her."

There was a gunshot; the man holding her fell lifelessly on the floor, the wound on his chest making a pool of blood on her white carpet.

"Heero!" Relena said happily, and without any other thought, ran to Heero and embraced him. Heero's body became still as he felt Relena's arms on his neck. This was new to him!

"I'm so glad you're safe!" Relena said through short sobs. Heero, not really knowing what to do, placed an arm on her back.

"Relena, we need to go… one of them escaped and I have a good guess that he's going to get back-up," Heero said as Relena released him. He led her to the window.

"Wait… are you telling me that we're going to use the window to escape? Heero, we're on the fifteenth floor! Are you serious?" Relena exclaimed, looking from Heero to the window. Heero gave her a nod and climbed onto the ledge, followed by a reluctant Relena.

"Just follow me… and try not to look down," he warned her.

Slowly, they walked on the ledge towards another window. Relena unintentionally gazed below her, and closed her eyes.

"Heero, I can't! It's too high!" she yelled. Heero, who was a few feet ahead, approached her and offered her a hand.

"Take my hand," he said. Relana immediately took it, but did not move from her position. Heero gently grasped her hand.

"Do you trust me?" he asked, firmly yet calmly. Relena looked up and met Heero's determined eyes. She nodded.

"Yes…"

In a few minutes, they reached another suite's window. Heero helped Relena from the window. After examining the room for anyone, he turned to Relena and gave her her purse.

"We need to buy new clothes… especially you," he pointed at her nightgown. Relena blushed. "We need to get to you car, fast."

When they reached the car, Heero motioned for her to stop and he checked every inch of her vehicle before nodding to her and getting in. She handed him the keys and locked the doors.

"Where do you plan on going after we get our clothes?" she asked. Heero turned the car onto the freeway.

Without looking, he replied, "To Quatre's."

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Please review! 


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